Sometimes I Am Nice, Sometimes I Am Stupid

Those are the words that came out of the mouth of a three year old girl I was nannying for.

She said it so matter-of-fact.
Just as she might say, "Sometimes I like red and sometimes I like blue." 


There was no sense of uneasiness or degradation.
Just a statement of what she thought.

Perhaps she was just repeating words, not fully understanding, but in that moment she was wise beyond her years.

She was teaching by example.

I too can sometimes be nice and sometimes I can do stupid things.

But unlike her I handle it differently.


Usually if I do something nice I do not acknowledge it. 
I am not talking in a prideful way, but I do not recognize it at all.
I downplay it, as,"Oh, it was nothing".
And I would not find myself using the word 'nice' to describe myself.
It would seem too self-centered, too selfish.

But is it really?
Why is it so hard to state a fact and  just leave it at that?


And sometimes I do do stupid things.
Defined as: foolish; senseless.
And boy do I acknowledge that.
Every bit of it.
I might even bring up past events just in case I may have any doubts or have forgotten.
It would seem too self-centered, too selfish not to.


But is it really?
Why is it so hard to state a fact and  just leave it at that?


Sometimes I am learned and sometimes I am still learning.

"The teacher who is indeed wise does not bid you to enter the house of his wisdom but rather leads you to the threshold of your mind."  ~Kahlil Gibran

"Too many people overvalue what they are not and undervalue what they are."  ~Malcolm S. Forbes